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"Oh? Hello again. And thanks...." Faeria says to no one in particular. Huh? Why do I keep thinking she's shorter... and pinker... and has pointier ears? This place is strange....
The gnome watches Faeria, clearly unsettled. "I- I think I get your point. I've got to, uh, water the plants. I'll get back to work now."
"Oh? Mind the panda... I think that strange man may have drawn one."
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Returning to the main temple building itself requires circling around the building and then returning throughthe double-doored front entrance. The meditation room is, as Gastidem recommended, north of the refectory. That room is now neatly bare and empty of the temple's inhabitants.
The meditation room is a lofty, open space. The stone walls are carved with several figures in various meditative poses. A few large mats cover the stone floor. The only other furnishing is a rack containing a few wooden staves and several stacked glass spheres, each no bigger than a plum.
An elderly man sits in the lotus position on one of the mats in this room. He spins three glass spheres in one hand and contemplates a wall carving. The spheres clink slightly as he spins them, but the room is otherwise peacefully quiet.
Seeing the group enter, he stands up and says in greeting, "Welcome. I do not believe we have met previously. I am Zhuang. Who might you be?"
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"Oh? Hello.... Who might any of us be...really." She looks confusedly around for a moment and then frowns. "I don't think any of us actually named ourselves and instead in the way of dreams just jumped straight ahead to discussion... except-" And here she smiles broadly and looks to Merisiel. "for our Giovanni di Pietro di Bernadone who claims to be someone else (but we know the truth). Still... I suppose that reflects how self-centered we must all be in real-life. Except for Giovanni, of course.... Huh? I hadn't thought of it before, but names are things other people give you. It might even be presumptuous to give yourself a name! Maybe you should tell us who we are first and then we can introduce ourselves."
She waits patiently then asks: "Are you my panda?"
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Will glowered at the stature of the frog before moving on with the others. There should be no reason that monstrosity should be left to prey on others, but he wasn't going to risk bringing the entire building full of dedicates down on them by mutilating the "goddess' statue". Not at the moment, anyways.
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Suspicious of the temple and it’s inhabitants now, Spencer stands in the corner of the meditation room watching Zhaung while he teaches Tomren the meditation techniques. He remembers the Venture-Captain’s words from the briefing; “find evidence of any meditative techniques described there, and record any of performing those techniques” and he can’t help but worry about what the “EFFECTS” might be.
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The man nods and smiles, pattering out, "Of course, of course."
He hobbles over to the rack with the wooden staves and brings one over to Tomren. Then, he retrieves three of the glass spheres also on the rack and hands them to Tomren to hold in the palm of his left hand.
"Now," the old man says, "the meditation has two parts. It's best done as a group, but do as you wish. There are the exercises inscribed on the wall, and a short mantra that you should repeat while doing those exercises. I'll be happy to bring you through them. It's a few simple stretches, some with the staff, and then a quiet period of calm and consideration. The mantra goes as follows:"
Light combined,
My peace find;
Calm my soul,
To control;
Woes I sift,
Catching gifts."
He then begins to to lead Tomren through the rites, starting with a number of gentle stretches along the mat, then using the staff to engage in additional stretch, and then into a period of meditation while rotating the spheres in one hand, while Zhuang repeats the mantra.
Merisiel keeps a careful eye on the proceedings, waiting to see what happens...
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The old man gives a welcoming smile and murmurs, "Of course, of course. You'll find Miriya there. Don't disturb her too badly. She likes the quiet and it is a library, after all."
He takes Spencer by the arm and leans on him as they walk to the library. As the walk, the old man says, "You look like a friend of my son's, I must say. It's been so long since I saw him. Oh, but here we are: the library."
Zhuang opens the door for Spencer and stands to the side to let him in.
The library is a spacious room is crammed with narrow bookshelves and large tables. Many shelves are empty and the remaining scrolls and tomes seem tattered and sagging. A small open door looks into a tidy office. The room is clean and bright despite a general atmosphere of abandonment. Several windows look into a garden to the west. A woman sits at a table, pouring over a large leather-bound book.
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Will found much more to interest him in the library than he had in the garden or meditation room. This was a wealth of knowledge, and he had always enjoyed reading. He moved over to the woman at the table.
"Excuse me, but are you Miriya, perhaps? The old man in the meditation room told us you might be able to help us. We are here to catalog the library, and I must say I never expected so many books. Do you have them in a particular organization scheme? Forgive me, I am Will, and these are my companions." He gestured to the others.
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The woman waves her hand, "I cannot help you here. I am reading, as you should obviously see. Now, I must say that if you're looking for an old catalog or something, check the old library office through that door."
Looking through the window, Willful Murder sees Faeria in the garden, as well as the gnome and the fountains.
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She tries the door again.
If that doesn't work she wanders around the garden uncertain as to where the exit is trying the other doors (forcing them if necessary).
If none of them open to her she eventually realizes there is a break in the temple wall and wanders through it and into one of 3 random locales within the temple itself (dinning room, meditation chamber, library)
"Oh? Hello?"
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Spencer moves around the room quietly looking over the collection of books. After hearing from the woman in the room that a catalog can be found in the office he makes his way to that room.
Spencer can not seem to locate the catalog the woman spoke of. Turning to Willful "Can you help me search I am not finding anything in here."
Whilst the others search the library, Merisiel thoroughly searches the office, eventually finding a dusty, well-written catalogue.
"Guys? There's something odd definitely going on here; about half of the texts worshipping Korada are missing from the shelves and there's several books now on the shelves that are not in this catalogue..."
Merisiel then purposefully checks the 'extra' texts, to see if there is anything unusual about them.
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The books here refer to Korada’s holy city of Vantian the Unshuttered, which continually crumbles into the sea of Ishiar while residents continually rebuild on the far side of the city. The books also describe the double-arrow symbol of “celestial silence and contemplation” to be drawn over the mouth and eyes of adherents of Korada.
In addition to its mundane works, the library contains a scroll of lesser restoration and a manual of calm reflection.
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Faeria absently rubs her wrist upon which is graven in shiny scar tissue, a crude version of the symbol of- "'Celestial silence and contemplation.' Heheh."
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"How, exactly, have they been altered, and what does it mean?"
Willful Murder was happy to help with the cateloging of the books, but this place was really starting to get to him. The vicious gnome in the garden, and his psychotic toys. These books not really showing what was expected of Korada wrorship. It was if if someone or something was trying to twist this entire place to something darker.
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"How, exactly, have they been altered, and what does it mean?"
"Oh? Hello. Have we met? I'm sure I've seen you somewhere before. Do you know an elf called Giovanni di Pietro di Bernadone? I think she's my friend. I have to find her and tell her to leave. We're all in terrible danger." She rubs her thumb over her wrist.
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Will took a step back from the new woman and shook his head carefully.
"Look lady, I don't know where you come from, but my pockets are for my personal use only. Give a man some space, willya? And I don't know any Giovanni di whatevers. What do you mean by 'we're all in terrible danger'? I know those words each have a meaning, but are you intending to put them together in that order?"
Will looked over at Spender and raised an eyebrow to see if the other man knew what was going on.
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Shrugging his shoulders at Willful. "I have no idea what is going on. Faeria has been rambling since we got here. I don't understand what she is talking about but I have not had a good feeling since we found that trap in the garden. The catalog in the library was just confusing to me. I do not read books much I prefer the woods."